


Like Sugar and Molasses

by kekinkawaii



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 16:22:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18760036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kekinkawaii/pseuds/kekinkawaii
Summary: From what Todd’s heard from Zoe, Dirk Gently must be some kind of superhero.





	Like Sugar and Molasses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bringmayflowers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bringmayflowers/gifts).



> ~ h a p p y b i r t h d a y ~  
> You wrote a fic for my bday (again) so here I am, returning the favour (again). Hope you enjoy!

From what Todd’s heard from Zoe, Dirk Gently must be some kind of superhero.

Every day, without fail, there would be some story eagerly spilled from his daughter’s mouth as she skipped down the sidewalk, somehow with more energy after spending an entire day in a classroom filled with other hyperactive kids than she had when he’d dropped her off in the morning. Todd had no doubt that at least part of this was credited to this curious, enigmatic Dirk Gently.

“We made brown sugar today,” was today’s Dirk Gently Daily. “Dirk gave us normal sugar and _mo-la-sses_ and we mixed it all up in a cup and then we ate it from our hands. Like _horses.”_ Zoe squeezed Todd’s hand, looked up at him when looked down, and beamed, bright and toothy.

“That sounds…” A bit unsanitary. A little eccentric. Quite a bit unprofessional. How much more sugar did kids need, anyway? “Neat.”

Zoe tilted her head to the side in an odd, quirky little gesture she’d recently picked up. “It wasn’t neat at all. It was really messy. We had to wash our hands and faces after.”

Todd frowned. “And Mr. Gently didn’t mind?”

“He says to call him Dirk,” Zoe corrected. “And Dirk said that making a mess is part of the fun.”

“Hmm,” Todd said. Dirk sounded awfully… childish. Being on a first-name basis with all the kids had to mean something. He guessed there had to be a reason he worked as a elementary school teacher.

“Oh, and also,” Zoe said, tugging on Todd’s wrist impatiently, “meet the teacher night is tomorrow. You should come and meet Dirk!”

Todd froze, nearly tripping over the curb as they crossed the road onto the sidewalk. “Tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Zoe chirped.

“Oh,” Todd said, trying to hide the dread creeping into his voice.

It wasn’t like he didn’t _want_ to come. He obviously wanted to hear about Zoe, her accomplishments, her skills, even her mishaps—he treasured them, cherished them. But the probing questions, the sideways glances, gradually unfurling into the inescapable, inevitable, ostensibly-subtle but actually painfully glaring inquiries as to the whereabouts of the mother? Todd could certainly do without those.

“Dad?” Zoe squeezed Todd’s hand. “You’re coming, right?”

Todd squeezed back, smiled down at her. “‘Course I am, Zozo.”

Zoe seemed to be happy with this response, and the conversation derailed into more rambling, absentminded rambling courtesy of a little kid’s perpetually-unsatisfied curiosity, bouncing along tangents like skipping stones. Todd played along, asking questions and answering them when possible, trying to ignore the constant prickling in his mind now that the meeting between him and this Dirk Gently was set. He supposed it wasn’t all dread―there was a substantial amount of curiosity scattered around in there, too.

Sugar and molasses. Todd snorted. Who knew?

-+-+-+-

Todd pulled up into the parking lot, glanced at the clock, and then at the rearview mirror where Zoe was bouncing with her usual, boundless energy.

“Come on, dad!” she urged, already yanking open the car door and tumbling out. “We’re already late!”

“Alright, alright,” Todd said, and followed.

“You’re gonna _love_ Dirk,” Zoe promised as they neared Room 19. “He’s so cool. He’s _stupendous.”_

“Right,” Todd said, and couldn’t help but feel a trickle of overprotectiveness as he held Zoe’s hand tighter.

The classroom line, thankfully, was only about one or two parents long. It was then, that Todd caught his first good look at Dirk Gently.

He didn’t know what he was expecting, to be perfectly honest. But the more he noticed—the tiny pin of a cartoon narwhal on his canary yellow suit jacket, the bright red racing stripes shooting down carefully-pressed pants, the rainbow rimmed glasses—the more the personality of Dirk Gently came to be a perfect, seamless match of how he looked. Even the way he moved; animated, waving his arms and dashing all around the classroom, nearly vibrating with energy, reflected everything Zoe had spoken of him in the past two months. Todd couldn’t hear what they were saying through the door, but he could already imagine his voice—high and energetic, brimming with eagerness and a rare childish wonder that had managed to remain throughout his years.

He did make a good teacher, Todd thought. He’d make a good dad, too. (Maybe better than him.)

Soon, they reached the front of the line, the past two parents retreating with matching smiles and farewells.

Dirk had his back to the two of them, and seemed to be scribbling something on a sheet of paper, and Todd felt an odd sense of nervous energy filling up inside him. To combat this, he took a deep breath and made the first move, stepping forward with more confidence than he had.

“Mr. Gently,” he called out.

Dirk turned around, looked over at Todd, and—just sort of—froze.

Todd blinked. Dirk seemed to be… staring. Did he miss a spot shaving this morning? Spinach in his teeth? God, when was the last time he’d eaten spinach?

“Uh,” he said.

“Hi!” Dirk suddenly said, loudly, in a voice even more high-pitched than Todd had imagined. His eyes darted from Dirk to Zoe to the door and back to Dirk. “You must be Zoe’s father. Well, not making any solid statements here, of course, you could be… Zoe’s father’s friend who’s looking after Zoe while Zoe’s father goes to the washroom? Or you could be Zoe’s legal guardian. Or her older brother, whom she never talks about. Mostly because she doesn’t have one. Or maybe she does, and you are that older brother. But most likely, you’re Zoe’s father. But maybe you’re not. You could be anyone, really. I should really just let you introduce yourself. I’m sorry, please introduce yourself.”

Todd blinked, and opened his mouth to speak.

“I’m Dirk,” Dirk blurted before he could get a word out. “Dirk Gently. You already know that, unless you just didn’t know my first name and called me Mr. Gently because you only knew my last name. In that case, I’m Dirk. Just saving you some embarrassment in the future in case you didn’t know. By the way, please just call me Dirk, Mr. Gently sounds—” He made a bit of a face along with an _erugh_ noise. “Anyway, I’m sorry for interrupting you. You were about to introduce yourself. I’ll be quiet now.” Dirk gave Todd a little flourished wave with one hand, a _go-on._

Todd fought the urge to flee at this unanticipated reaction. Had Dirk been like this with the other parents?

“Good evening,” he said tentatively. He gave his best smile and extended a hand. “I’m Todd, Zoe’s father. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“So you _are_ Zoe’s father!” Dirk said. He had a nice, firm handshake, almost on the edge of too tight, hand warm, almost hot, just on the edge of too damp. “I suppose that wasn’t too extreme of an assumption. Zoe had said she was bringing her father. But my motto is that you can never be 100 percent sure about anything. Anything is possible. Truth is stranger than fiction.”

“I suppose,” Todd said slowly.

The awkward thick silence was, to the eternal gratefulness of Todd, broken by his daughter.

Zoe turned to Dirk with a great big smile and an eager wave that jostled Todd’s arm. “Hi, Dirk!”

Dirk was jostled out of whatever daze he had been in. “Hello, darling,” he said, crouching down and smiling back at Zoe with so much contagious cheeriness that Todd felt the corners of his lip threaten to tilt up. He wasn’t even smiling at _him,_ what the hell?

Dirk straightened, took a deep breath, and turned his attention back to Todd. He smiled, but in a considerably different way than he had to Zoe. While the one to Zoe was open, cheerful, and unabashedly affectionate, he smiled at Todd with edges filled with apprehension and―was that nervousness?

“Um, hi,” Dirk said. “Again.” There was a shade of pink creeping up his ears.

“Hi,” Todd said, wondering if he was going to have to be the one to move this conversation somewhere further past than just “hi”s. “I’ve heard a lot about you,” he settled upon.

“Oh,” Dirk said, and laughed. “All good things, I hope.”

“Yeah, actually,” Todd said. “Anyway. How’s Zoe?”

Dirk looked visibly relieved at the given topic. “Ah, yes! Zoe. Zoe is fantastic. Absolutely phenomenal. She’s one of my best students—and don’t tell the other parents I told you that.” He winked at Zoe, and Zoe giggled. “Zoe is an absolute wonder to have in class, and I’m honoured to be able to teach her. She’s also an excellent artist.” He raised both his eyebrows. “Isn’t that right, Zoe?”

In response, Zoe giggled again and put a finger to her lips. “Shhh!” she said loudly. “Don’t tell Dad!”

“Don’t tell me what?” Todd said.

“Nothing,” both Zoe and Dirk said at the same time.

Todd frowned, feeling irrationally irked at the feeling of being left out. Which was ridiculous, childish, and completely unreasonable. He shoved the feeling away. “Anything else?”

“I could go on _all day,”_ Dirk said. “I actually could, you know. There’s always a story to tell with Zoe.” Somehow, Todd believed him.

After a few more minutes of stilted conversation—Dirk speaking in that strange tandem of his, rambling incessantly before catching himself and finally allowing Todd squeeze in his own, few words, Zoe cutting in once or twice with shrill, childish excitement—Dirk clapped his hands together a little and said, “Well, that’s about it. Do you have any more questions?”

Todd shook his head. “You seem like an excellent teacher. The kids love you—I know Zoe does.”

“Aww.” Dirk beamed, full force. It was like looking into the goddamn sun, Todd thought deliriously. “You don’t know how much that means to me, Todd. Thank you so much.”

“No, thank _you,”_ Todd said automatically, and began backing out of the door. “Then I’ll be going now. Have a good day, Dirk.”

Dirk tilted his head to the side inquisitively. With a jolt of realization, Todd recognized it as the same gesture that Zoe had just recently picked up. “You too,” came the reply.  

Todd and Zoe got all the way to the end of the hall when suddenly from the classroom there came a shouted, “Wait!”

Light, quick footsteps. Todd turned to see Dirk, coming in a little jog towards them. He stopped, confused. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

Dirk stopped about a metre from the two of them. “No,” he said, sounding out-of-breath. “I just—” He looked away for a second and seemed to steel himself before looking straight at Todd. “I was wondering if you’d like to. Um. If you’d like to have dinner sometime?”

Todd didn’t process the words for a good two seconds. Then, he said, very faintly, “What?”

Dirk bit his lip, getting a determined look in his eyes, tilting his chin up. “I asked if you’d like to have dinner sometime.” There was a clear tremor in his voice, a buzzing apprehension, but he stood firm, shoulders squared and mouth set.

“I…” Todd still couldn’t quite process. “I’m sorry, I. I don’t really…”

Dirk seemed to fold at this, buckle and bend. “It’s okay,” he said quickly. “I understand if you’re not—if you don’t—that is, well.” He shifted on his feet, restless, and flushed. “I understand,” he repeated.

“No, it’s not that,” Todd said. “I just don’t really date anyone. At all.”

“Oh,” Dirk said. “Um, that’s alright. Of course that’s alright, I didn’t mean to pressure you. I mean, it’s not as if I expected anything—and if I did it wasn’t like I expected it 100 percent, or even 85, like I said, you can never be totally sure about anything, which is sort of why I asked, but—that’s alright. I respect your decision and I apologize for potentially making you uncomfortable. I’m going to go back to the classroom now, I maybe sort of ditched Thomas’s parents back there. Thank you again for coming and have a lovely day, Todd and Zoe, both of you.”

He offered a gracious smile, and then gave a little wave, turned back on his heel, and jogged away.

-+-+-+-

The next day, when Todd went to pick up Zoe, it was not just her who came out, but also the distinctive bright-yellow of a jacket belonging to a certain Dirk Gently.

Todd said, “Oh God,” out loud alone in the car, and then opened the door and walked out to greet the two of them.

“I’m sorry,” Dirk said, sounding genuinely helpless. “She threatened to empty the fishbowl on the carpet.”

“Zoe!” Todd said, incredulously.

Zoe frowned. “I knew Dirk would come with me. I knew I wouldn’t actually have to do it.”

“Zoe,” Todd said again, this time quickly adopting the same helpless tone he had picked up in Dirk’s voice earlier. “What are you doing?”

Zoe had a hand tightly fisted in Dirk’s sleeve, crumpling the material. She pulled him, then, tugging until Dirk stumbled closer to Todd, reluctance and blind panic visible on his face.

“I’m sorry,” Dirk mumbled, face red, head down.

“You two like each other,” Zoe demanded, so loudly that Todd winced. _“Dad. Dirk._ Dad, why did you say no?”

“Zoe…” Todd pressed his lips tightly together. “You don’t understand. I can’t.”

Zoe stamped her feet. “Yes, you can!”

Suddenly, swiftly, Dirk turned around and crouched down to meet Zoe at eye level. “Darling,” he said softly, urgently, “I know you’re frustrated about this, but you can’t force anyone to do anything. If your dad doesn’t want to do something, he doesn’t have to. Please don’t pressure him.”

Zoe’s lip stuck out in a stubborn pout. “But he _likes_ you!”

A flash of wry resignation flickered over Dirk’s face before it was smoothed over with a smile. “If he did, he’d have said yes.”

“No,” Zoe shouted. “Dad always says no to stuff he actually likes. Like extra cheese on his burgers. And Frozen.”

“Oh my God,” Todd said. “Zoe, please, can we just go home?”

“Not until you admit that you like Dirk,” Zoe said, getting that look on her face that meant she wasn’t giving in, was gonna sit down in the middle of the candy aisle until she got her Sour Patch Kids, wasn’t going to leave the library unless she had another movie to rent out. Dirk, standing off to the side now, looked like he wanted to sink into a hole and disappear into the Earth. Todd could relate.

“I’m really sorry about this,” Dirk mumbled to Todd, quietly for Zoe not to hear. “You can just say it to get her to drop it. It doesn’t have to be genuine.” He sounded so earnest, eyes wide and shining, bright baby blues, so goddamn apologetic for Todd having to put up with this.

“I…” In a split second, spurred by Zoe and Dirk’s kicked-puppy look, Todd made a decision. His shoulders slumped and his voice, when he spoke, was riddled with resignation.

“Okay, yeah. I do like him.” Todd nodded once, decisively, and then turned to Dirk. “I do like you.”

Dirk blinked. His eyes widened. “You didn’t have to say it to me,” he murmured.

“I know,” Todd said, and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. “I’ll give you my number. Call me tonight and we can work out a restaurant and time?”

The realization slowly dawned on Dirk’s face. Then, his face broke into a beaming grin, and— _there it was—_ that huge, contagious, brighter-than-the-Sun smile, the one that felt like sweet summer warmth on Todd’s face.

“Yes!” Zoe screeched, and jumped in the air and began running across the school tarmac. _“Dirk and Da-ad, sitting in a tree—”_

“Zoe, please,” Todd said desperately, uselessly.

-+-+-+-

Todd couldn’t tell if Zoe spending more time worrying about her appearance than Todd was a sign that Todd needed to try harder, or if Zoe was just way too extra. Possibly a bit of both, he decided, but spritzed on some cologne just to be safe.

When Dirk had suggested bringing Zoe along, Todd had originally been dubious, but Dirk had promised it would be great, and that he would be able to make it work. Todd had agreed, despite having more than a little bit of reluctance.

The doorbell rang, immediately followed by a shrill, “Dad, he’s here!”

“Hi, Dirk!” Zoe was already speaking when Todd rounded the corner, and by the time he reached the door she was in full blast, with Dirk crouched down and appearing to be in total enthrallment and engagement in the rapid-fire conversation.

“Really?” he was saying. “That's amazing, Zoe!”

“What's amazing?” Todd said, reaching the two of them.

Dirk looked up, saw Todd, and did that thing again where he froze and blinked and turned pink. Todd rubbed at the corner of his dress shirt, feeling self-conscious and slightly overwhelmed. “Hey, Dirk,” he said.

“Hi,” Dirk breathed. “You look good,” he blurted. “I mean, not that you normally don't look good but better than usual. Not that you don't look better than usual usually, but that doesn't really make sense. You look _fantastic._ Phenomenal. Brilliant.” He beamed at Todd, who had gotten slightly off track over the course of yet another longwinding ramble.

“Thanks,” Todd settled on, feeling his face flush. “Uh, you too.” Dirk had swapped out his yellow jacket for a mint green blazer that Todd would expect to look overly flashy on anyone except for Dirk, who seemed to somehow pull it off. It made his eyes pop even more than they usually did, a shining bright aqua.

Zoe tugged on his sleeve to urge him into lowering down to her level. “Dad, did you know that a hedgehog's heart beat is over _two hundred beats a minute?”_

“I didn't know that,” Todd said honestly. “That's pretty cool, Zozo.”

Zoe beamed. “I know, right?”

“She's been reading this Hundred Facts book,” Todd explained to Dirk.

“Oh, Zoe,” Dirk said dramatically, fluttering a hand at his chest. “Our resident little genius.” He held his hand up for an eagerly-reciprocated high-five.

Zoe grabbed Todd's hand and Dirk's in her other and pulled them both out the door. “Come on, I'm _starving!”_

The restaurant was folded-napkin formal, but not so much that Zoe couldn't get crayons and a twisty straw with her water. Todd ordered her mac and cheese and got a plate of penne pasta himself, while Dirk opted for some kind of rotisserie-cut chicken sandwich that wasn't on the menu, but he seemed to know the waitress who put the order in for him. He seemed to know _everyone,_ actually—from the waiters to the chef to the cashier at the front, all made out for with a wriggly-fingered hand wave and a greeting by name.

Todd had never liked dates. The struggle of coming up with something to say, something witty, something smart, something sharp and edgy but not overly incriminating, the endless etiquette that everyone seemed to be perfectly inclined to follow but one that Todd had supposedly never been given warning of; he had an endless, winding list of things that could go wrong, end up awry and awkward with a stiff kiss on the cheek and a stilted ‘see you later’ that would never come to fruition. But none of this happened with Dirk Gently.

Throughout the dinner, Dirk was animated and energetic, speaking to Zoe and Todd alike with dramatic, hushed tones and grandiose hand gestures, spinning stories and cracking jokes. Todd would be lying if he didn’t say that he had himself gotten particularly invested in a story Dirk wound about the time he allegedly camped out in the forest for a week and met some hitchhikers who turned out to be writing a novel—who then, with much prompting from Zoe, led Dirk on an adventure to hunt down the legendary dragon of the forest. Zoe was absolutely enthralled, so much so that she forget to beg and whine for a second helping of dessert. Throughout his stories, Dirk’s eyes sparkled with mirth and mischievousness, a shining light alive in his eyes. It was stunningly attractive to the point of ridiculousness and Todd felt himself, inevitably, staring. Just a little.

When Dirk caught him, he flushed pink. “It’s—the kids like stories,” he stammered.

Todd smiled at this and replied, “I do, too, apparently.”

When they were finished with their food, Dirk sprang up to get the bill, leaving Todd and Zoe by the tables with Zoe insisting on them finishing all the water (to help the waitresses clean up and to not waste water) like she always did.

Todd felt a tap on his shoulder, and looked up to see a blonde waitress.

“I’ve known Dirk for years,” she said before Todd could speak. “And he’s just about the sweetest, most caring, most loving person I have ever met. Don’t hurt him.” She smiled with a knife’s edge of warning.

“I,” Todd said. “I’ll try not to.”

“Hmm.” She narrowed her eyes, and then walked away quickly. Todd was confused by the sudden retreat until he saw that Dirk was returning to their table.

“What did Mandy say to you?” Dirk asked curiously, stopping in front of their table.

“Nothing,” Todd said automatically.

Dirk shrugged. “Alright,” he said, completely trusting, and that was that. He started to stack the empty glasses together, humming under his breath. Todd watched him, and thought he understood what Mandy was trying to say.

“Dirk, I need to talk to you,” Todd said.

Dirk tilted his head. “What is it?”

“I…” Todd swallowed and looked at Zoe, who was carefully, with infinite care, making the final touches on some drawing she had made on the back of a menu that she had started a while ago, one that she wouldn’t let Todd see for some reason. “Zoe,” he called out quietly, “you drank a lot of water. We’ve got a drive back, do you wanna go to the washroom?”

“Okay,” Zoe said, and flipped her drawing over. “Don’t look!” she warned Todd as she left.

When Todd was sure Zoe was out of hearing range, he turned back to Dirk.

“When you first asked me, I told you I didn’t date,” he said quietly. “I don’t. Well, didn’t. I was married, once. Zoe’s mother left us, about a year after she was born. She was too young to remember her. Zoe’s my entire life right now, I just, I don’t think it’s fair to Zoe if I let myself go, I don’t think I have enough of myself to give to more than just her. I’m already not being the best I can be for her, I don’t give her enough attention, I don’t take her out enough, it’s, it’s just not fair. I don’t know what I can do.”

He sighed, and let his head hang like he wanted it to. “I really like you, and I wish I could make this work, but… I just don’t know.”

Instead of responding, Dirk walked over to the table and flipped over the menu—the one Zoe was drawing on.

It was a drawing of a man with a cape, riding a fire-breathing dragon. On the cape, a neat child’s script: _Dad._

“Zoe loves you,” Dirk said simply. “So much. It’s incredible. You’re not sacrificing anything, you don’t have to pick one or the other. I’ve known Zoe for a few months by now, and she’s astonishingly mature for her age. And she wants you to be happy, Todd. Did you know? She’s been putting together a gift for your birthday for the past few days, now.”

Todd’s birthday―that was next week, wasn’t it? Todd realized with a jolt that he had forgotten. And Zoe hadn’t.

Dirk set the drawing back down, carefully, then reached his arms around Todd and pulled him in.

“You’re so hard on yourself,” Dirk murmured, squeezing him tight. “I admire your selflessness, but you have to understand that you will never be able to work up to what you want to be with the mindset you have right now.” Dirk’s hand smoothed down Todd’s spine, a hot line of hope.

“God, Dirk,” Todd said, almost a plea. “Even if—even if Zoe’s alright with it, I don’t know if I can give _you_ enough. Even if this is okay for me, I don’t know if it’ll be okay for you.”

“When I saw you for the first time, I froze,” Dirk said. “Like a complete idiot. You saw me back there, you know how I was like. Just the sight of you, one word, and it was enough to make me into a fool for the rest of the day. Just you. That much had been enough.”

“You’re—God, you’re so—” Todd turned his head so that his face was pressing into Dirk’s shoulder, clung like a child. “I’m always either working or looking after Zoe,” he tried, a last, futile attempt at something he wasn’t sure was worth grasping onto anymore, wasn’t even sure if it still existed or if it was just a ghost of a recollection, faint lingering fears and poisoned wisps of his mind.

“I spend eight hours a day at the school, five days a week,” Dirk said. “I’d love to look after Zoe with you. Anything you’re willing to give, I’ll have.”

“God, Dirk,” Todd said again, and couldn’t say anything else. Dirk was almost unnaturally warm, and the boundless comfort that washed over him was almost too much, intensely overwhelming—it had been so long since he’d been held like this, had held someone other than a small, fragile, hopeful little child—been comforted instead of comforting himself.

He wasn’t sure how long it was until he heard the bathroom door open, looked past Dirk to see Zoe wandering out. He took a deep breath and disengaged himself from the hug.

“Hey, Zozo,” he said, smiling, “ready to go?”

Zoe hopped onto the bench, grabbed the drawing, and held it close to her chest. She nodded at Todd. Dirk caught his eye and winked, smiled.

Out the door and into the parking lot, the stars were out, scattered across the navy-blue sky. Dirk pointed at a smattering of them and said, “Do you know the name of this constellation?”

“No,” Zoe said.

“That’s perfect,” Dirk said, “because we’re going to make our own right now.”

One turned to two, two turned to three, and fifteen minutes later, they ended up all leaning against the hood of Dirk’s car, heads craned back and pointing at the sky, spinning outlandish stories from glittering galaxies. Todd turned his head to the side, crick in his neck aching and ignored, and saw the stars reflected, shining and twinkling, in Dirk’s eyes.

When Zoe’s yawns became too frequent to ignore, Todd ushered her inside the car with a halfhearted protest from her, too tired to fully rebel (thank god), made pliant by a promise to continue the stories another day.

“Zoe’s pretty tired,” Todd said to Dirk. “I’d love to go on a walk, or something, but—I’ll have to take her home now.”

“Of course,” Dirk said, nodding. “I’ll drive you home.”

The ride home was silent and peaceful, Zoe’s near-delirious mutterings gradually disappearing into quiet snores and snuffles.

Dirk parked his car the side of Todd’s apartment. There was a pause, and then Todd got out—shortly followed by Dirk.

Todd made his way towards the passenger door, and then stopped, pivoted, and walked back towards Dirk, who was leaning against his side of the door, one leg propped up with his knee bent.

Dirk smiled at him when he approached. “Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” Todd said.

They spent a moment in the symphony of the crickets. In the distance, the drunken laughter of a group of girls floated through the tepid summer air.

“I really like you,” Todd said.

“What a coincidence,” Dirk said, still smiling. “I really like you, too.”

“I really want this to work,” Todd said. “But please understand that I. I haven’t done this in years. I’m going to mess up and things could get ugly. But I want to try.”

Dirk’s smile broadened until he was beaming once more, that brilliant smile that nearly floored Todd every single time. He wondered if, after weeks, months, years, he’d feel the same way. He wanted to stick around for long enough to find out. “That’s all I’m asking for,” he said, and lightly pushed off with the foot propped against the door, stood up fully facing Todd.

Sometime since the dinner, the constant nervous energy that surrounded Dirk seemed to have smoothed into a lazy, dazed cheerfulness, but now, some of it rekindled and made its appearance once more. Dirk took a step closer, and Todd could make out from the streetlamps that faint tinge of pink around his ears, dusting his cheeks.

“Can I—um,” Dirk said, flushed some more.

Todd paused, said, “Can you what?”

Dirk looked away. “You know,” he mumbled.

Todd raised an eyebrow. “Know what?”

“I—” Dirk huffed, pouted. “Nevermind.”

Todd couldn’t help but laugh. He took Dirk’s shoulders and rose to his tiptoes, pulling him into a kiss.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked when they parted. “When I drop off Zoe?”

“Hmm?” Dirk blinked. “Oh. Yes, of course.” He blinked some more, and then said, “I’m a bit worried about my report card marks being slightly biased, now. I’m not supposed to have favourites.”

Todd laughed, and then laughed some more, suddenly hysterical, giddy. Dirk joined in, and for a few moments they laughed like maniacs, like imbeciles, like children, for no reason other than the sheer, stark feeling of happiness and the tangy taste of it on their tongues.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Dirk confirmed afterwards. He was still grinning as he ducked his head down and snuck in another kiss. Todd felt his chest expanding like a balloon, helium-high euphoria in his veins, reaching upupup into the night sky, sweet like sugar and molasses.

“Good night, Dirk,” Todd said, and walked around the car to wake up Zoe.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, Dirk Gently fandom! This is my first foray into writing Brotzly. I'm pretty nervous, so if you could leave a comment, it would make my day. Thank you <3


End file.
